Swami Chandrasekaran

Swami Chandrasekaran is a distinguished technology executive and CTO with over 25 years of experience in digital, AI, and cloud transformations. Renowned for his visionary approach to AI at scale, he is passionate about building high-performing teams and developing innovative products that drive business value. With a hands-on approach and entrepreneurial spirit, he has spearheaded transformative initiatives with clients in over 20 countries.
Currently, as a Principal/Partner at KPMG, Swami heads the AI Center of Excellence (CoE), driving the firm's AI strategy, transformation, and experimentation across all functions, including Tax, Audit, Advisory, and BPG. He oversees AI Architecture and drives efforts related to Knowledge Assistants (advanced RAGs), AI Agents, domain-tuned Small Language Models, AI-enabled Search, Trusted AI Toolbox, and Hardware Optimized AI. These efforts are integral to KPMG's AI-enabled transformation, ensuring KPMG stays at the forefront of AI research and innovation. His leadership has resulted in significant measurable outcomes. He also oversees the AI portfolio and roadmap, ensuring consistency and alignment with KPMG's strategic goals. As a Principal Investigator, he represents KPMG in the NIST AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC).

In previous roles at KPMG, Swami built the Solution Architecture discipline and also led the Global Cloud Center of Excellence. He has led the build of several award-winning innovations, including Medicaid data exchange, cloud FinOps, ethics intake automation, continuous compliance monitoring, conversational AI, continuous risk prediction, contact center modernization, and modern data platforms. He has worked with several clients across sectors including Consumer Retail, Healthcare Providers & Payors, Global Financial Institutions, and Global Pharmaceuticals.

Swami has received several accolades, including the 2024 Excellence in Leadership award by Consulting Magazine. Previously at IBM, Swami was appointed an IBM Distinguished Engineer for his significant contributions to developing and shaping IBM Watson. He also led the incubation of over 100 AI solutions and managed a global team of top AI talent. He holds more than 30 patents and authored multiple books and articles on applied AI. He was also named and appointed an IBM Master Inventor. Prior to Watson, he worked in the WebSphere products division, developing process automation and middleware-based solutions for the telecommunications, media, and energy sectors.

Swami holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. He actively teaches AI and programming to middle and high school girls, inspiring them to explore careers in STEM fields. A sought-after speaker at industry conferences and a guest lecturer on applied AI, he is committed to advancing emerging technologies and enriching the community. His blog at nirvacana.com features the popular Data Science Metromap. In his personal time, he enjoys gaming and music mixing.

Specialties: Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise AI, Conversational Systems, Large Scale Data Ingestion, AI enabled Search & Discovery, Cloud Architecture, Microservices & Containerization, Enterprise Integration, API Design & Management, Data Catalog, Common Data Models, Business Process Management, SOA, Design Thinking, and Agile Methodologies.